Farm Fresh Blog

My new milking stand arrived the week I was sick in bed, thus I did little more than set it up, plop a bucket of feed in front of it, turn the goats loose, and sit down on it to drink a homemade frappuccino. (nope, haven't kicked that habit yet. I just pour it into the old glass bottle and pretend it's Starbucks.)

To get the baby goats used to eating on a stand, I dragged some old pallets out. They happily climb up and chow down.

Clover reluctantly gets on the milking stand to eat. She has a hard time eating at the same time she is concentrating on this character zoom-zooming around the barn.

Slowly but surely it's coming together though. I haven't tied her in yet. That may be a rodeo. (the proverbial goat-roping!) I also haven't figured out how the head lock works. I bought a stand for horned goats, since the two weanlings have horns. It looks like the v-shaped bars come together to lock them tight - but - I don't like this part - the chain that locks the bars is designed so that a nut screws over a bolt to lock the chain in place. Sounds good until the critter falls off the stand. There is no quick release. GOAT PEOPLE! HELP me out here! How is this supposed to work?

I plan to keep the baby on Clover full-time for a couple more weeks. When he is beginning to eat solid foot, I'll lock him up at night, and milk her in the morning before turning him out with her. That gives me a little more time to figure out the stanchion and get her trained so she doesn't panic and fall off the stand when she figures out she's tied. Right now, Clover hops on, eats a bit, and hops off to check on Huckleberry. Then she hops back on, or goes to the weanling feeder.

I would appreciate any advice from goat milkers regarding getting the goats used to the stand. At the moment, the stand means sunflower seeds, pets, and scratches, so she likes it well enough, but she hasn't been trapped in it yet. That may be a whole different kettle of fish.

Smart and touchy goats will fling themselves off the stand and dangle from their heads a few times until they figure out it will not get them out of having to be milked <G>. All you have to do is scoop them up and put them back on the stand. It helps to have the stand located next to a wall so they can only throw themselves off on one side. The key is "don't give up or they win".
Better yet, is to train them from a young age AND as soon as they have kidded (while the mommie hormones are still going) to let you rub them all over, including the "touchy" parts. Milking 30 myself right now and 10 of them are first timers.

Posted by paulainnevada on 06/01/2011 - 10:18 AM

30 GOATS! WOW! What do you do with all that milk? soap? cheese?

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 06/02/2011 - 12:13 PM

It mostly goes to butcher pigs, then poultry, cheese, dogs, potatoes, zucchini..... I use it as fertilizer on the pasture sometimes. Here in NV raw milk is illegal to sell or give away for any reason. Toxic waste, don'tcha know....
Milk is just an excuse to have goats (:-):
The Creamcup Mini's

Posted by paulainnevada on 06/04/2011 - 12:54 PM

That is freakin' outrageous! (shaking head) That's how bootleg milk is born!

Posted by forensicfarmgirl on 06/04/2011 - 03:53 PM

Ours have never had a problem with the milking stand. Occasionally a foot will slip off but they have figured out that their heads are trapped so, as Paula said, you either scoop them up or they will right themselves. We always supervise stand time and the other goats do not have access to the stand while another is in it. Our stand is homemade so it is a little wider than yours appears to be. Sometimes I sit up there with her while I'm milking :) It is such a pleasant way to start the morning-although I do get a lot of first-timer teat hand cramps! I sure feel for Paula with 10 first-timers!

Posted by Gretta on 06/05/2011 - 02:33 PM

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